About this blog

My name is Bill Hirt and I'm a candidate to be a Representative from the 48th district in the Washington State legislature. My candidacy stems from concern the legislature is not properly overseeing the WSDOT and Sound Transit East Link light rail program. I believe East Link will be a disaster for the entire eastside. ST will spend 5-6 billion on a transportation project that will increase, not decrease cross-lake congestion, violates federal environmental laws, devastates a beautiful part of residential Bellevue, creates havoc in Bellevue's central business district, and does absolutely nothing to alleviate congestion on 1-90 and 405. The only winners with East Link are the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington and their labor unions.

This blog is an attempt to get more public awareness of these concerns. Many of the articles are from 3 years of failed efforts to persuade the Bellevue City Council, King County Council, east side legislators, media, and other organizations to stop this debacle. I have no illusions about being elected. My hope is voters from throughout the east side will read of my candidacy and visit this Web site. If they don't find them persuasive I know at least I tried.

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Times Ignores Their Own ST3 Questions

The 8/08/16 Seattle Times headline
“Riders learn the light-rail squeeze” is another example of their decision not
to follow-up their 4/03/16 editorial
“Questions on Transit Need Clear Answers”. There they questioned Sound Transit Chairman Dow
Constantine’s “veracity”, the “wisdom” of committing to spend $50 billion over
the next 25 years on light rail extensions, and included former state
Transportation Secretary Doug MacDonald's estimate ST3 would bring the overall
transportation taxes and fees paid by the typical Seattle household to nearly
$2,800 per year.

The editorial concluded:

The point is
voters need their representatives to provide clear, objective explanations of
ST3’s pros and cons, not cheerleading. Costs and benefits of rail versus
buses is one of several topics that must be clarified.

Yet none of this has
happened.Instead the Times headline
heralded “about 65,000 riders a
day are taking light rail because of the University of Washington and Capital
Hill stations.”They ignored the fact that Sound Transit initially promised more than 100,000 daily riders
by 2010.They parroted Sound
Transit claims “People love it” and “want to ride it” despite the fact many
of the riders were forced to do so because two-dozen bus routes were rerouted
to feed the trains.They allow
Sound Transit to cite the additional $1 million in fare box revenue over 6
weeks without asking about the additional operating costs with the extensions.

The Times quotes Sound Transit
claims those voting for ST3 “will be voting for more high-capacity transit, and
for meeting the need” for the “million residents expected to move to urban
Puget Sound by the time ST3 would be built out”.They ignore the fact a 2004 PSRC study concluded the
Seattle tunnel limited light rail to one 4-car train in each direction every 4
minutes with half those trains going across 1-90 and half to SeaTac.

No matter how many riders they
stuff in the 74-seat cars it’s doubtful it can meet current transit demands let
alone those of the added urban residents.Bellevue Council member Wallace’s claim “They’ve gone
to a very expensive solution that takes a long time to build” misses the
reality that the ST3 is no “solution” for urban Puget Sound commuters.

Those among the 65,000 that
currently “love” light rail may be less enamored when they realize that the
added taxes and fees they’ll pay if ST3 is approved will do absolutely nothing
to improve their commute.In fact,
the limited capacity when the ST3 funded extensions begin operating means, at least
during peak commute, the trains will likely be full even before they get to the
UW or Capital Hill stations.Of
course the nearly 75% of Seattle residents who don’t use transit will only be
forced to pay much more for those who do.

The Seattle Times surely owes residents throughout the area more “answers” to their “questions”.

About Me

My last elective position was class president for 25 “class of ’57” seniors in Armstrong, Iowa. I received an MS in engineering at ISU, worked at Boeing for 36 years before retiring in 1998. My wife and I moved into our current home in Bellevue in 1967 where we raised two daughters. Three years of unsuccessful attempts to persuade BCC to block EL are available on “extended session” meeting minutes. Copies of many were sent to all the media outlets, legislators, and others to no avail. I’m hoping this Web site will convince east side residents to query their own legislators.